1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a luggage container for use with motorcycles and, more specifically, to a bag that can be removably attached to a motorcycle by means of a pocket, attached to one surface of the bag, which fits snugly over the rear seat of the cycle.
2. Description of Related Art
A number of different bag designs have been developed to cope with the problems of attaching luggage to a motorcycle. An ideal luggage bag for a motorcycle would be capable of carrying a large and variable volume of items and would be easy to attach securely to and easy to remove from the motorcycle. In the past many motorcycles and bicycles used bags arranged as panniers which hung down on either side of the rear wheel, such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,258 to Jones. Such an arrangement provides for a large storage volume. However, such a design has proven more successful with bicycles than with motorcycles. This may be because the rear wheel of a motorcycle is much thicker than that of a bicycle, and because a motorcycle attains much higher speeds than a bicycle. These factors make it difficult to adequately secure motorcycle panniers against machine motion and buffering by wind. Consequently, the preferred designs for motorcycles have involved bags that are supported by motorcycle seat members or by special added structures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,563 to Raat discloses a rack structure that can be attached behind the seat of a cycle. This rack can then be used to attach a variety of motorcycle bags.
When bags are attached to the seat or other parts of the motorcycle, it is difficult to ensure secure attachment of the bags and yet still be able to easily remove them later. Today many motorcycles have a vertically oriented seat back or, alternatively, a vertical tubular frame (sissy bar) behind the main seat. These structures may separate the seat from a rear luggage rack and may also serve as a seat back for a passenger seated behind the motorcyclist.
A number of bag designs have used the sissy bar, the passenger seat back, or the luggage rack to the rear of the seat area as points of attachment for a bag. U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,508 to Hoops discloses the use of a sleeve and straps on the front surface of a bag to attach the bag to the sissy bar. However, such a structure may not adequately grip the sissy bar, and thus allow the bag to pivot or "windmill" around the sissy bar. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 249,036 to Ramalia et al. and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 253,269 to Ramalia attempt to rectify this problem by providing eyelets and lace to make the sleeve fit the sissy bar more tightly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,018 to Heltzen teaches a collapsible luggage pouch that is attached to the back of the passenger seat back and rests on the luggage rack. Such a bag can contain only a limited volume of luggage and may not be attached with sufficient security. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 308,916 shows a bag that is attached to the cycle by a superficial pouch that fits over the seat back. Again, this type of bag may suffer from inadequately secure attachment to the motorcycle. An inadequately secured bag may flap, vibrate, or even come loose when the cycle is traveling at high speeds. U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,213 to Watkins teaches a large, collapsible luggage bag that is strapped to the passenger seat and clamped, at its bottom, to bars of the luggage rack.